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Walter Nolen injury update: Former Ole Miss Rebel working to recover from calf injury

On3 imageby: Billy Embody07/27/25BillyEmbody
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Jun 10, 2025; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Walter Nolen III (97) during minicamp at the teams Arizona Cardinals Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Arizona Cardinals first round pick and former Ole Miss defensive lineman Walter Nolen suffered a calf injury, according to Ian Rapoport this week. When updating multiple injuries, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon revealed Nolen suffered the injury at the team facility.

Nolen’s working to get back, but he’s expected to miss a large portion of training camp. Rapoport said he could very well miss all of camp. There’s potential that he misses some regular season time.

“I don’t know that,” Gannon said. “I really don’t. We’ll see how it goes. Each one’s a little bit different. Each injury’s a little bit different. Each guy’s a little bit different.”

His new Arizona teammate, Calais Campbell, told Cards Wire that Nolen’s got to let the injury heal so he can help the Cardinals this season.

“My No. 1 advice was let it heal all the way,” Campbell said Thursday. “Calves have a big re-injury rate when you try to rush back. He’s very excited, as any rookie would be to get back on the field and it’s like … you’re going to be fine. I know you want to get in training camp and be around the guys and compete and show what you can do, but let it heal all the way so it doesn’t bother you the rest of the season.

“We know what you can do. We’ll get you healthy. We’ll get you ready to go when the time comes.”

For Nolen, who was the 16th overall pick, he signed a lucrative rookie contract reportedly for four years and worth $19.3 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal also included a $10.7 million signing bonus.

Nolen is coming off a season in which he logged career highs with 48 tackles, 14.0 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and three passes defended. He did that at Ole Miss, transferring to the Rebels after spending two seasons with the Texas A&M Aggies out of high school.

In his career, Nolen has totaled 114 tackles, 26.0 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and four passes defended. 

The Cardinals are hopeful he can get the defensive line going out in the desert.

“We wanted to have a more disruptive defensive unit. We think we’ve added players that can help us do that,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said in April. “And again, when we find players that can affect the middle of the pocket, it puts a lot of stress on the offense. And so Walter is another guy that we think can do that, can help us do that.”

Nolen was the second Ole Miss defensive lineman taken by the Cardinals in the last nine years. Robert Nkemdiche was drafted by Arizona as the 29th overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.

“I just want to learn their process. I still get to be a kid a little bit,” Nolen said of joining the Cardinals defensive lineman room. “Just get in there, learn their process, learn how they do things and just implement it into my process.”

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